


Worries

by nitohkousuke



Category: Naruto
Genre: Flashbacks, Fluff, M/M, Mentions of Zetsu, Uchiha Izuna Lives, madatobi gift exhange 2020, technically angst with a happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-02
Updated: 2020-02-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:54:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22519567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nitohkousuke/pseuds/nitohkousuke
Summary: Tobirama's comes home later than expected from a mission with his chakra signature a little off. Madara reminds him of what they are to each other.A series of flashbacks leading up to some feels.Technically Divergent from Canon but most of us live in that Izuna lives AUParty of the MadaTobi Gift Exchange
Relationships: Senju Tobirama/Uchiha Madara
Comments: 6
Kudos: 216





	Worries

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ser_Thirst_A_Lot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ser_Thirst_A_Lot/gifts).



> For @LouRandom
> 
> Hope you like it!

_ “I hadn’t realized the head of the Uchiha clan was such a parental, domestic person,” Tobirama says as Madara wraps the latest set of mission injuries, while mumbling angrily to himself. _

_ “P-pa-. Domestic!” Madara hisses, and he is sure his hair is raised like a cat. Tobirama always told him that he really is just one big cat, but well, when someone has been around ninja cats for so long… “How dare you? I am just caring for my Husband, who I thought was the responsible one, but when you come home with injuries that should be attended to at the hospital-” _

_ “You would have me have my brother tend to these?” Tobirama gives him a look that reminds Madara how those two are even related. “I would drown in his tears. Is that how you want me to die?” _

_ “Oh. Hush. Drama queen.” Madara wraps the bandages just tight enough for Tobirama to wince and give him a pointed glare. “That’s...understandable. These really aren’t that bad. Just-” _

_ “If I thought they were beyond your ability, I would go to the hospital.” Tobirama cups his cheek with all the softness that Madara had once thought he was incapable of. “Have more faith in me.” _

Madara frowns staring through the window in the office of their shared house in the middle of the Uchiha District. He tries to look back at his paperwork, or rather their paperwork. He does Tobirama’s when he’s out on a mission, and Tobirama does the same. There’s always...so much.

It’s hard to focus when Tobirama is a week overdue. He knows the man is alive, considering the past correspondence. It does nothing to ease his nerves. Tobirama said he was fine. Tobirama is not always good at knowing what fine is.

_ “I’ve got some more paperwork from your brother that I figure I can fill out for you while you reco-” Madara starts as he enters the bedroom, only to find Tobirama sitting in the middle surrounded by scrolls neatly organized into what he assumes is categories like unfinished, finished, or for a later date. _

_ “Oh yes,” Tobirama says without even looking at him. His arm isn’t even in the sling that it’s supposed to be in. The stitches on the arm at least look intact, and none of his bandages show signs of fresh blood. _

_ “Are you OUT OF YOUR MIND?!” Madara nearly throws all the paperwork at his head, but he knows that isn’t what he wants. He tries to not let his chakra signature flare too wildly out of control because Tobirama told him that he’s blindingly bright when he’s angry. “Hashirama just STITCHED YOUR ARM BACK TOGETHER.” _

_ “Consider this physical therapy.” Tobirama rolls his eyes at him, before squinting at a particularly faintly written word. _

_ “That’s. That is NOT.” Madara hisses, grabbing it out of his arm. “At least let me help you. What good am I to my boyfriend if I watch him hinder his healing?” _

_ “...If I do not start my paperwork now, I will never catch up.” Tobirama squints at him through his reading glasses. _

_ “I’m not saying don’t do anything. God, you don’t think I don’t know you by now? Fool!” Madara hisses, sitting down next to him, flaring his chakra in a way that always seems to soothe Tobirama. “I will read and write for you. Just tell me what you want. Next time, I’m going to do all your damn paperwork for you. Let’s see you do anything when you heal then!” _

_ Tobirama is silent for a moment, burying his face into Madara’s side. “Apologies. I am not...used to…” There are words unspoken at the end, but Madara has heard enough of the stories to know what Tobirama’s place amongst his clan was. _

_ “Your health is important. You are more than what you can do for others.” Madara says with an intensity that almost makes Tobirama flinch. He takes a breath to center himself, to bring his chakra signature back to the warm fire that Tobirama seems to like. _

Most of Madara’s life, his chakra signature was never to his advantage. Uchiha are always fire and lightning, but most Uchiha have better...emotional control when it comes to their chakra signature. Madara has always been fiery and passionate. His father was never pleased with that.

Tobirama is one of the few people in his life who seems to enjoy things about him others find...unpleasant.

The Uchiha love deeply, but they are very private people. Not that he and Tobirama aren’t still very private people, but the way he expresses himself is always too much for the elders. How can they ask less of him when he’s held so many of his brothers in his arms as they passed on to the other world? Why is grieving the only time he is ever allowed to cry, to care? And even then...

_ “I asked to be alone! That is why the door was locked!” Madara hisses, throwing a cup at the door as it opens. He does not turn to look and uses his hair to hide his bloodshot eyes. He does not even take the time to feel out who it is. He does not care. _

_ “You shouldn’t have to be alone to face something like this.” Tobirama’s voice is cool, but there’s an edge of concern that makes Madara grip the table harder. _

_ “Come to mock my inability to control myself, Senju? Sage knows this village mostly thinks I’m a wild animal ready to explode!” Madara’s Sharingan spins as he turns to look at Tobirama, hoping it’s enough to make the man leave or at least not look at him. _

_ It does neither of those things. The idiot locks eyes with him, unafraid. When did that happen? When did this man look at him as no longer a threat? When did hatred get replaced with concern? _

_ “Anyone who thinks you are an animal for being affected by death is a monster.” Tobirama takes a step closer to him, his chakra signature soft like ice to a burn. _

_ “I am the monster for sending him out on a mission that killed him!” Madara can’t control the way his voice breaks. He knows he should be quieter, but hopes the noise seals on the door are still intact even after Tobirama entered. “We created this village to protect our family! To stop children from dying! But still-” _

_ “We created a system to prevent that, yes, but nothing will ever be perfect. It is horrible that he died, but it is certainly not your fault.” Tobirama places a hand gingerly on his shoulder. This isn’t what Madara expected. Nothing about this situation makes any sense. “You are allowed to be upset. You are allowed to grieve. We will avenge him. We will do our best to prevent it from happening again. But you…” Tobirama brings him into a hug, and all Madara can do is stare blankly before relaxing into his grip. “Are allowed to cry.” _

Ah yes, that was the start of all of this, wasn’t it? At some point, Tobirama saw past the monster he made Madara out to be. And, at some point, Madara saw past the ice prince he made Tobirama out to be. Now he is a fool unable to focus because his enemy-turned-husband is late returning home after a mission out of the village. Worrying over the same man he used to wish would die in his sleep. The same man who had almost taken his brother from him. How strange the world is.

He isn’t that lovesick, however. He is going to finish this paperwork, really. It isn’t as if Tobirama would suddenly be back-

Madara practically breaks the cup in his hand as he feels Tobirama’s chakra signature enter the village. This is earlier than his last updated time, but Madara isn’t going to complain. Well, if the man is on his deathbed, he is certainly going to whine as he patches him up. His chakra signature doesn’t seem as if he is wounded though.

Quickly making himself presentable and preparing Tobirama’s favorite after-mission tea, Madara waits for his husband to arrive home. It is too late to even try to submit a mission report just yet. Besides, in the more recent years, Tobirama has come to want to spend some time home unwinding unless it is urgent. His mission was annoying, but Madara doesn’t recall it being as urgent as it would have seemed.

Humming to himself, he thinks about how nice it will be to kiss his husband’s lips again. How nice it will be to not worry about whether or not he would come home alive. How nice it will be to have all his precious people sleeping within the village he helped build to make sure his loved ones stay alive. He is so lost in thought that it takes the strange tinge of Tobirama’s chakra signature as he walks into the door for him to realize something is wrong.

There’s a moment of fear that he hasn’t felt in years suddenly coursing through his veins. Tobirama tries to walk past him, but there’s a paleness that unusual for him. There’s a nervousness… there’s a coldness to him that’s almost like before the truce. Madara tries to take a breath as he reaches his chakra out in the way he has for so long, only to be met by nothing. Tobirama’s chakra is an ice wall.

There’s a poisonous tint underneath it. A tint he watched drive his brother insane.

“Tobi.” Madara says carefully, his hand hovering over his shoulder.

“What.” Tobirama’s voice is wrong. He looks at him, staring at the bridge of his nose as if to avoid his eyes. That is a lack of trust that hasn’t been in their relationship for a very long time. It’s just a sudden change in everything that this man has been to him.

“Tobi…” His voice is soft. The flinch he gets when Madara lays a hand softly on his shoulder is alarming. It’s...uncomfortably familiar.

_ “What.” Izuna says, turning to him. His eyes are icy. “I won’t tell father about your boyfriend.” The word is said with such venom. It’s different than the careful warning he’d gotten not too long ago. “You’re a traitor, but I have faith you will realize your mistake.” _

_ “Izuna...it isn’t…” Madara tries to stop Izuna, but he gives him an icy glare. _

_ This wasn’t his brother. Something was wrong. Izuna wasn’t a mumbling, paranoid mess full of hatred. _

Tobirama mumbles something to himself and looks away.

“...Tobirama, are you hearing voices?” 

Tobirama turns to him, eyes wilder than they’ve ever been. It’s such a mirror image of Izuna it hurts.

That creature that almost took his brother is still out there. This is a firm reminder. The creature that pitted the Senju and Uchiha against each other since the creation of their clans is still out there. It is the biggest threat to everything that he loves.

“...No.” Tobirama leans away to remove his hand. “I am fine. It does not matter.” Trying to end the conversation there, Tobirama turns to leave for his bedroom.

“It does matter.” Madara hisses, grabbing his wrist. “Do you not remember Izuna? Do you not remember Touka? Do you not remember all those that we have healed? Tobirama.” He doesn’t let Tobirama pull himself away. His grip remains strong.

“Nothing has changed, but the fact that I have opened my eyes to the truth.” Tobirama looks him in the eyes, not as a sign of trust but...as a move of defiance. “That you married me to keep me from being a threat! I’m the demon senju. No game of playing house will change that. I almost killed your brother!”

Madara sees red faster than he has in such a long time. He pins Tobirama to the wall practically seething, sharingan spinning. “You absolute fucking moron.” Madara tightens his grip on his wrists. “My brother was exactly where you were. That THING did something to him. This isn’t you. You aren’t a demon. You did what you had to, to protect your brothers. It was war, Tobi. It isn’t anymore.”

“Do not lie to m-” Tobirama tries to start, and Madara flares his chakra violently enough that he’s sure half the village can feel him.

“Focus on me. I am not lying. Focus on my chakra. Whatever it’s telling you, you know it’s a lie. You’re smarter than that. It’s manipulating you. Focus on me. Fight it.” He tries to change his chakra to a more soothing flow. It’s hard to keep his panic out of it. It really is.

“I am the man that almost killed your last brother! Do you really think that I would believe that you would just let me get away with that?” Tobirama tries to pull away. The look on his face is so similar to Izuna’s it hurts.

“My brother almost killed himself!” Madara hisses, gripping his wrists tighter. “ Can you blame a soldier for defending themself? You are no demon. I married you because you are you. Smart yet stupid. Strong yet soft. Methodical yet occasionally terrible at time management. We are yin and yang. Fire and water….” Tears flow from his eyes softly, and he tries to stop them. How can he when this has happened again? How many times will this happen will he lose the people he loves?

“...I…” Tobirama starts and looks to the side, frantically, before slumping and leaning into him.

The tint to his chakra practically evaporates, and Madara wraps his arms around him tightly. His chakra hums the way he knows Tobi likes.

“I’m sorry...oh god...Madara…” Tobirama takes a breath, but Madara rubs his back in circles and shushes him.

“There is nothing to be sorry about, love. This isn’t your fault.” He presses a kiss to the top of his head, before leading him slowly onto the couch. “Just focus on my chakra and try to calm yourself. I’m not going anywhere.”

“...I love you.” Tobirama murmurs as he curls into Madara’s side so much like the snow leopards whose contract he has. “...I almost ruined everything.”

“...We’ll destroy that monster one day, Tobi. Don’t worry about it now.”

This is his family. He never thought he’d be here, but he has no regrets about it now.

Nothing will take that away from him.


End file.
